The thing I like about Narelle’s dogs is though they are successful show dogs, they are also beloved house-dwelling members of the family. When Narelle told me she would like some nice relaxed shots of them at home just kicking back and doing what Danes do best, I was happy to oblige. The three girls from left to right are Jazzie, Bella and Keisha.

Keisha, officially known as RUBISS Aust Ch Daneforce Grand Tsunami, has been her star show dog and had just had a litter of pups. Narelle has kept two pups from her litter, a harlequin boy and harlequin girl, both absolutely gorgeous – I hope to share them with you soon.

Jazzie was Narelle’s first serious show dog. She’s now retired from the ring and also had a litter of pups in 2009, around the same time as Keisha.

Last but not least is Narelle’s special girl, Bella. Bella was Narelle’s first Dane and was the dog who she started off with in showing. She’s also now retired and is living with the good life. She has simply the best David Bowie eyes!

And a very special relationship with her Mum.

Towards the end of our session, the girls were getting sleepy and in true Dane style, crashed out somewhere comfortable and settled in for a nap.

Last week I had the pleasure of heading up to Brisbane to have lunch with Narelle and spending some time taking pics of all the little munchkins in both litters for her website. Nineteen in total! I was in heaven. I get to go back when they are four weeks old and take some more. They will be running around by then so something tells me it will be a bit more of a challenge.

Being a harlequin litter (the Great Dane colour of white with black patches), it’s always a bit of a lottery to see what comes out. Generally there will be harlequins, blacks (with varying amounts of white markings on the feet and chest), mantles (also called bostons) and merles (the mousey grey colour), with variations including whites, merle mantles and lightly marked merles, often called ‘merlequins’.

Narelle and co-breeder Stordansk Great Danes was lucky to get a total of seven nicely marked harlequins out of nineteen puppies, which is quite good! Always depending on conformation (how they are structured), the showable colours are harlequins, blacks (the less white the better) and mantles. Unfortunately the merles are not a showable colour in Australia, though I think they are gorgeous.

You can see all the photos here – Keisha’s litter – Jazzie’s litter – and read and see more about the dams and sire here. In the meantime, here are a few of my favourite shots.

All the puppies minus one, from one of the litters.

What a face! Don’t you just want to kiss his nose? This is a mismarked mantle/black puppy.

One litter had a total of five harlequins – four girls and one boy. Due to the way the genes work, harlequins will almost always display some merle patches along with black patches.

Gorgeous little merle mantle.

This merle boy was the chubbiest of the lot.

The only male harlequin out of 19 puppies, this little guy is pretty special.

A ‘merlequin’ (harlequin marked merle) and his merle mantle brother. These two mirrored, I have an number of photos with them doing the exact same pose mirrored, right next to each other!

Expect more photos at the end of May!